He was referring to local authority's plans to build a park and ride on the meadows which lie to the east of the city.

The Bathampton Meadows Alliance (BMA), a group formed to fight the plan, said the comments were inaccurate and could have potentially breached pre-election rules. Mr Clarke was speaking on April 5 - the day before the Walcot by-election and in the run-up to the election for the West of England mayor.

Batheaston Parish Council councillor Emma Adams, one of the complainants, said his comments displayed “an astonishing and terrifying ignorance” about the area.

During the radio interview Mr Clarke said: "From ground level there is very little difficulty as far as screening is concerned, because it's not as though either site is actually visible from Batheaston particularly, or the other communities around. The issue is more from above and we think we can actually screen both sites."

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He said: "Clearly the issue here is one of interpretation and is also dependent upon the physical location of the observer.

"Councillor Clarke believes the generalisation he made is factually correct but acknowledges that with higher elevation, the visibility increased - in particular the houses on the slopes above the High Street but has not addressed what he meant by 'or the other communities around'.

"Nevertheless, he made the point regarding elevation in interview when he stated the issue is more from above.

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On the complaint of contravention of regulations on pre-election purdah, Mr Hewitt said "there are occasions when it is appropriate for council to respond to important events outside its control.

"The deputy monitoring officer considers that it was appropriate for the council to field councillor Clarke to respond to the request by the BBC for a response to the Highways Agency decision, given this was an important event that was outside the control of the council. The only issue is whether the response provided was factual."

Vice-chairwoman of Batheaston Parish Council, Emma Adams, who was the lead complainant, said she was deeply disappointed at the decision, but not surprised.

GV of Bathampton Meadows

"Sadly the response that we have received from the council’s deputy monitoring officer seems to be yet another example of the council having one set of standards for members of the public who disagree with what it’s doing or proposing, and another set of standards for councillors," she said.

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Ms Adams added: "To say that any park and ride could be effectively screened was a seriously misleading statement that may well have influenced people during the West of England mayoral election and during the Walcot by-election.

"No amount of screening for example could hide a park and ride at night.”

Emma Adams

In his response to the complaints, Mr Clarke, who did not make a statement when the complaint was made, said: "When I was asked about screening I correctly mentioned that at ground level neither site was visible, but that they both became more visible the higher one moved up, which we believed could be screened.

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"I agree that I did not make it absolutely clear that there were houses on the slopes above the High Street, but the interview moved quickly on to the positions of the candidates for mayor, which I refused to answer.”

There is no further right to appeal for the campaigners to the council but they can take their queries to the Local Government Ombudsman.